Raymond, Tom, 1947-

Biographical History

Tom Raymond, the official photographer for the International Storytelling Festival from 1980-2009, began working with the International Storytelling Center, formerly known as the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (NAPPS), beginning in circa 1980. In 1983, Raymond established Fresh Air Photo, a commercial photography and post production studio based in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Raymond first pursued a medical career. He earned a B.S. at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He later obtained his M.S. at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, and a Ph.D. in biological science at the Bowman Gary School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. Three postdoctoral positions followed at the University of Iowa, the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1978, Raymond joined the faculty of the Department of Internal Medicine at East Tennessee State University.

Raymond's career in photography began as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee (UT) while he was working for The Daily Beacon, a student publication. He earned several awards for photojournalism while at UT, but photography was put on hold while he pursued a career in academic medicine. Having published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and presented his research at meetings throughout the United States and abroad, he resigned from UT in 1987 to pursue photography full-time as the owner of Fresh Air Photo.